UK to get fully-functioning Xbox One voice controls at launch

Xbox One's Kinect voice controls will be fully available at launch in the UK, but the same cannot be said of all launch countries.

The console will arrive this November in 13 "tier one" territories, but just five will get specific voice commands such as "Xbox On": the UK, US, Canada, France and Germany.

10 countries will get at least some voice features, Microsoft director of product planning Albert Penello explained in a post on NeoGAF, while eight languages and regional variations will initially be supported.

At launch you'll be able to choose from the following language options: English (UK and US), French, Spanish (Mexico and Spain), Italian, German and Portuguese.

Exact details on which voice features will be available in each country is "complicated", Penello admitted. "It's been an education for me as I've been looking into it.

"There is no way that I could do justice to it in a post, so the marketing team is working on a chart that gives clarity on what locales, languages, and voice features are available in each country. Trying to write it down would be confusing. Stay tuned for a more detailed explanation."